daycare drop-off

My 4 y/o son has been in daycare since 12 weeks. Most of the time he is happy to go, but we go through weeks at a time when he doesn't want to go and throws a huge fit when I try to leave. We had been doing good while he was 3, but it seems that since he's turned 4 it's gotten bad again. Anyone have any suggestions? Is this typical and does it just improve on its own?

 

Has anything changed at the school? A new teacher maybe? He's old enough to tell you while you're *not* dropping him off (at home or whatever) why he doesn't like going to school.

 

Lauren went through this for a while, but it is a lot better now. Do you stay while he is crying? That is one thing I had to change. I had to leave her crying. There were times that she would chase me to the door and I would just have to turn away. It broke my heart! :cry: It took a couple of weeks for her to figure out that it would not delay me in leaving and she hasn't acted that way since.

 

Nothing has significantly changed at school. I ask why he doesn't like going - his response is "because I want to stay with you". Really, he just wants to stay home, watch tv, play....just the usual unstructured stuff that he does on weekends.

I do my best to leave as soon as a teacher has a grasp on him, but I don't wait for him to settle down because that just prolongs it. And he usually is fairly happy when I pick him up.

I'm thinking he may just be getting bored.

 

We go through phases like this every once in a while, and we get a bit of it nearly every Monday morning (though, strangely, not today) and it's worse after a long weekend or a vacation.

He may just be going through some developmental phase that makes him want to be with you all the time -- it may not mean he's unhappy at school at all. If the teachers say he seemed happy for most of the time, it's probably a separation thing rather than a problem with school. It sounds like you're handling it as well as possible.